.....................
In truth, training our brother was the hardest task that we had ever decided to take on, and though Cheesy was the one training, Sharp and I were mostly exhausted. Four days had passed since we commenced his transformation. It was a painful, sweaty, cumbersome, and energy sucking process.
"Uurghh!!" A tired Cheesy landed at our feet, decimated, collapsing on the ground in a pile of sweat, fat and fur, for the hundredth time.
"Cheesy move your big behind and get up! You've only walked quickly around half of the kitchen counter, and you can't keep dropping in between at every few steps!! Else you'll lose nothing!! You have another half a mile to go so get the hell up, now!" Sharp took a sizeable wooden prick and smacked Cheese's behind with it, the clap sounding out into the air.
"Ouch!!!!Okay okay okay!!" the lazy rodent coincided. We watched how violently his hands shook as he struggled to push himself up. In a second, he plopped back down to the ground, his arms caving underneath the weight of his body. Laid out flat on the floor, his chest heaving as he exhaled, exhausted.
"Cheesy!!! Cheesy get- Cheese!!" Sharp sighed, throwing the stick to the ground, rubbing the temples in his forehead. I sighed and placed my hands on my hips, looking down at Cheesy laying face down, his four limbs sprawled out to each corner of the Earth.
"What in rodent damnation have we gotten ourselves into Burrs?? The damn rat won't even run a straight stride of at least a few paces. He keeps giving up every time he starts to sweat!" Sharp looked as if he was about to lose his mind. I really wanted to help Cheesy, but deep down, I also had given up on this useless project.
"Sharp to be honest with you I don't know what to say. Maybe he thinks he's dying every time he begins to sweat? -"
"Yeah I see that, but it's been four days now. How long before he realizes that sweating is part of the-''
just then, a loud, dragging noise sounded out in the air, interrupting us.
Sharp and I looked at each other, and without a word both of us dug off into the corner, ducking and hiding. That ominous noise sounded like the huge door in the living room was opening.
"Is it the Giant?? He isn't supposed to be home this early!!!" I whispered. Sharp tried poking his head out around the corner to see, just as he did the loud noise pounded out into the air again. He drew his neck back and slumped against the wall.
"Damned Giants. Can't stand them!!! Those cretons. If he comes back here i'll bite him on his toes" Sharp argued.
"You can't bite on anybody's toes. How you gonna do that and one of his toes is bigger than both our heads??" I inquired rhetorically, tired of Sharp's foolish bravado.
"I can do whatever I want! Whenever I want. At least I wouldn't run from them like a little baby..."
"Sharp just be quiet. Can you see anything?"
"You be quiet. Imma check again"
Sharp pursed his snout up into the air, sniffing for any signs of the Giant.
"Hmmmm....well I don't smell him coming, that ranky creature" he lamented. Pushing his head out slightly, furrowed eyes peeped around a corner. I came behind him, looking straight to the floor of the empty living room.
The door was still locked, and there were no signs of anything being open. Absolutely nothing.
"What?" Sharp barged out in the middle of the passage, standing next to Cheesy who was still laid out on the floor. I walked right up beside him.
"Then if it isn't the door?? What were we...?" coming from below us, a warm breeze floated up to us, a toasty channel of wind carrying a pitch that sounded like somebody was choking. Sharp and I's eyes meet again, and without having to say not a single word to each other, almost instantly we both came up with the same conclusion.
Our gazes dropped below to Cheesy, who was knocked out cold. His snores had been so alarmingly dreadful that we mistook it for the Giant opening the door and coming inside.
"So it was him snoring and not the Giant opening the door???!" Sharp shrieked, his mouth opened in shock. For five minutes straight Sharp stood there, his face stuck in a state of apprehension. Out of nowhere, he flung his head up and began to laugh deliriously, resting his paws on his head and walking around in circles. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply.
"Burrs, this is one of the stupidest ideas you've ever come up with!!!Ever!! How the hell are we gonna help Cheesy when every time we reach a certain point, he gives up and passes out and just goes to sleep! What in the-I can't I can't!!" He shouted into the air, raising his hands to the ceiling and kneeling down.
Eight more days passed, and it was still the same thing. We were up at the break of dawn drilling him every single day since we made that vow to Mother. At first, I was very gentle with Cheesey. Trying my best to motivate him, telling him anything was possible and that he could do it. I even tried running alongside him, we both did since we figured maybe he would move more if we exercised as a group. It was all in vain..He kept doing the same thing. Running around half the distance of the island in the Kitchen, stopping every minute during that process, complaining that he was going to die and how we should just go ahead and leave him be. Eventually, I became ruthless. Beating him with a stick to encourage his legs to keep moving, while Sharp cursed at him.
Our goal was to get him to sprint around the island counter at least three times, (for now). It was me trudging behind Cheesy with a stick and slapping him whenever he eased up. (Which was every 5 seconds) Simultaneously, Sharp would be in front, walking backwards to face him, trying his best to motivate him to go forward.
"Come on Cheesey, you've got this!!!Let's go you can do it!!!You fat ba-I mean, you determined rodent!" Cheesy was walking at a fast pace, not ever running or jogging fully.
His whole entire body jiggled, ripples of fat shaking as he placed one foot in front of the other, not a drop of even the tiniest form of perspiration climbing through any of his pours. Cheesy was only four more steps away from completing the first half of his jog around the counter, he started breathing rapidly, slowing down.
"Brothers please, you'll kill me before we get to go outside! Geeze, can't we take a break" he would complain, after half-assing his "walk run" and having a whole other half of the island to go around...
"I don't care how tired you are! You think those cats are tired of eating us??" I drilled.
"Nooo...." He would sheepishly respond. He sighed and attempted to inch up on his paw, struggling to get up. We both stood and watched his knees buckle together, trembling violently.
Then, he passed out.
...............................
Back at the Holdings
"Sharp this is useless. He's still too big and hasn't lost any weight since we started, he's still way too slow, and most importantly, he doesn't have the drive to push forward. Me and you can't be the only things gearing him to go ahead. It all depends on him" Biting into a carrot, I rested my elbow on the counter and inched in pain. My arm hurt from helping Sharp drag Cheesy home. We were back in our holdings playing Dratsmate, Mother out in the bathroom getting water while Sharp and I were scheming. Looking at Cheesy, who was unsurprisingly at the dining table, gorging down a piece of turkey meat; we had deduced that with Sharp and I's extra effort, it would only take us a whole month before we could really go outside. It had been two weeks now, and Cheesy had been in the same spot, making no progress.
Sharp moved my Rodent King forward and pushed his Rodent Queen in its space, invading my homebase. My eyes were pinned to Cheesy's back as he ate, I was twisting the end of my whiskers, watching Cheesy from behind.
He really was a helpless case. Lost, a goner. There was no getting him in shape. Now, Mother wouldn't let us go outside forever. Worse she'd think us liars and fools for not showing results for what was promised.
Why did you decide to help those in need when you needed help yourself Burrow?? Had inconveniences because of family love not held you back enough....
An image of all three us covered in white hairs as old, wrinkly rodents flashed in my mind. We would be around this very table, playing Dratsmate. Sharp would let a fart out and fan it into our direction, cackling in his amusement. Cheesy would be doing what he did best. Eating.
This time of course, he would fall asleep with crumbs or something falling from his whiskers.
A morbid, dreadful feeling of failure floated into my throat, making its way to my chest. Suddenly, I felt the urgent need to cry. I couldn't. Something was making noise in the background, distracting me from doing so.
"Burrow!!"
"Huhh??" I answered, tearing my gaze away from my thoughts. I realized that it was Sharp making all that noise in the background, calling me to make my next move.
He glared up at me, with a look of confusion in his eyes.
"It's your move idiot. I've been calling you since Drats kingdom come" he complained.
With a reluctant wave of my hand, I took one of my Bishops, crossing over three of his soldiers and invading his home base again. Sharp's eyes were swollen now as he looked down at the board, baffled by how I over toke him, even after my attention had been elsewhere.
" How did you? You rascal" He grunted, folding his arms and slumping back in his seat. At the same time Mother walked in with the water bucket in her arms. Sharp continued scouring the board for opportunities to win. Then, he turned his attention to me. With a glance, he saw that I wasn't interested.
"I guess my moves are too predictable for ya huh?" he muttered, rocking his head from side to side.
"Hm???No, no you gave me a run for my money Sharpo. It's just that um...I really want Cheesy to grow you know? Push forward. I'm trying to think of something that will inspire him. Something..that will motivate him."
"Hmmm..Something that will drive him..." Sharp commented.
"Yeah. Cheesy isn't going to dig deep and derive his ambitions from a place of self-esteem. So we have find something that will push him from an external sense. Maybe like a reward or something..."
Sharp and I sighed at the same time, both of us having wondering eyes as we searched our heads for a clue. Then, it hit us. The answer had been right in front of us all along.
"Cheese!" both of us shouted simultaneously, standing up at the table and looking at each other. Before you knew it we forgot about Dratsmate and started brainstorming. If nothing could motivate the rodent, there was only one thing in this world that probably could. And that was Cheese, his favorite food.
So we laid out the first stone.
We agreed that we would use Cheese as the ultimate force in pushing Cheesy to the best version of himself. Was it the best decision to use something that got him into this slump in the first place as a prize? Probably not. At the time, it was the best thing we could come up with, especially if we wanted quick results.
Rule number one, he needed to be able to climb up surfaces in a quick manner, he was much too slow.
'' We have to get him to move faster, so we'll continue having him run around the table in the Kitchen a few times like we did the last time. Only difference is, now he has a reward to get him through."
"The bugger is bound to run now. I bet he'll finish that lap around the Kitchen in no time. I'm worried about his climbing though Burrs. He can't even get five feet off of the ground"
'' I know Sharp, but let's focus on that another time, right now we need to get him running."
"Right"
.....................
The next day started, and training commenced. On the following day we got up, dragged Cheesy out of his bed and went straight to the Kitchen floor and told him to run two times around the counter.
''Two??? I can't even run half of the mile, what makes you think I can run t-'' before he could get another word out, Sharp shoved something in front of his face that was, to him, phenomenal. A delicate parcel of Cheese floated just inches away from his mouth, hanging on a string that was attached to a stick. Cheesy's mouth had become rounder than the water buckets that were inside our holdings. He blinked rapidly at the golden piece, pushing his hand out to touch.
"Uh uh uhhhh" I impeded his path, stepping in front of the object and gently pushing him back. I pointed to the Kitchen corner.
"Run around the circumference of the Kitchen Island twice, and you can have it. Then, and only then, will it be alllllll yours" I chimed.
"Oh and you can't stop for a break at all. No taking five steps and then stopping for a breath every second. You gotta go straight through, consistency. That's what we want" Sharp added sternly.
Innocent, beady eyes swerved desperately from me to Sharp, a rose-colored snout twitching in the air as he smelt for the Cheese that Sharp was hiding behind his back. Striding forward I held Cheesy's chin and tilted it up, turning his head back to the track.
"It can be yours Cheesy. If you do what we say" I whispered the gentle reminder in his ear. He began stammering, grabbing an excuse out of thin air.
"Bu- but if I can just have a piece to really get me going I'd-"
"Off ya go Cheesemiser!!!" Sharp came in front of me and grabbed his shoulders, guiding him to start his task.
"Okay. I'll be coming back for that Cheese! None of you touch it" with that Cheesy turned around and bent his arms in a 90-degree angle, swinging them back and forth; stomping his feet up and down as he trudged forward. Loose, dense flaps of fat jiggled as he bounced up and down, his stocky tail dragging across the floor. I walked behind him as he advanced the kitchen island, the dangling Cheese stick in my hand.
Three times he slowed his jog to a walk, and every time he did, I would appear in front of him like a Genie, hanging the Cheese on a string like it was a wish to be granted. I advised Sharp to stay by the end of the counter as a finish line, but he stood close to me walking by as I did, his finger crossed in anticipation.
Then, the moment of truth came. With a few more huffs and puffs he approached the close to the bend of the Kitchen counter, his personal mark for his body to shut down and stop working. I looked at his feet and began estimating the countdown.
"Bro- brother Burrow" Cheesy came to a halt, leaning over and gasping for air.
" I-I can't go any further- I can't" he stopped, the drips of sweat running down his face as his body heaved in and out. Suddenly, his body began wobbling from side to side, he held onto the wall for balance, trying his best not to give in.
"I-I can't" Cheese sighed deeply and toppled over, falling to the ground. I looked over to Sharp whose eyebrow was raised to his forehead, and in the blink of an eye Sharp came running past me, grabbing the Cheese stick and lodging himself in front of Cheesy.
It was time for plan B.
With a thumbs up and a smirk on both of our faces, he brought the cheese stick, swinging it over Cheesy's head.
"Burrow if this works, you're a freaking genius and I'll never curse you about being Mom's pet ever again" he teased, bending down and merely swaying the food by Cheesy's nose.
A few seconds past that felt like minutes, and then something happened.
His nose began sniffing. It kept twitching and so did his hands, and his feet. His eyes tore open. Suddenly, he rose up like the dead that had been awakened, his eyes fixated on the chunky, yellow treasure that was hanging by a thread...
"That's right Cheesemiser. Get up buddy..you can do it" Sharp lightly moved the food in front of his nose, stepping on the delicate parts of his heel and walking backward, in unison Cheesy stepped forward, his droopy gaze focused on the Cheese. We watched him sniffer through the air, his head turning to the block of cheese.
''I want...."
''Cheeeessseee???????'' We sang together.
"And it could be yooouurs if you just got up and ran one more itsy-bitsy lap for it" I teased in his ear, Cheesy eyes still glued to the gold in front of him.
"One...more...lap?" he asked desperately between shortened breaths.
"Yeeaahh buddy. Just ooonnee moooree" I encouraged.
As I said that Cheesy took a step forward and tripped, falling on one knee and planking his paws to the floor, to avoid going down face first. He got up again, his once sleepy eyes fresh with a sense of resolution; Biting his lip he pushed himself off of the floor, steadily swinging his jello arms in a swinging motion, putting one foot behind the other and getting into a gradual run.
"Thatta boy! Come on. Come here!" Sharp nodded his head, walking backwards as Cheesy etched closer and closer to him.
"One, two, three, four,....ten, eleven" I continued counting the steps he took forward, and thankfully, he was past his usual mark, away from the kitchen bend now, and continuously going further and further, until we completely went around the corner, and faced the passageway. Cheesy held on the wall of the island, dragging his body along the walls of the counter as he got closer and closer to us. We wanted to push and see how much further he could go, but he really did look like he was at his wits end. Sharp spaced out more and more away from, dancing the Cheese in front of him as his speed slowed down, even though the will in his body fought to carry him further to the Cheese.
"You got this Cheese!! It's on the stick baby!! waiting right here for ya!! Just finish the lap, finish the lap" light shone off of Sharp's incisors, his smile going from one corner to the next. I was ecstatic. We were gunning for two laps, but if Cheesy finished at least one, I would die of happiness, this smile would be imprinted on my face forever.
He was almost finished with his second lap, turning the corner again and passing the garbage bin, heading towards the finish line on the other bend.
I was biting my fingernails. Could he even make it? His face was swollen, like a bee had stung both of his cheeks. His legs were wobbling under the mass of his protruding stomach, drones of sweat dripped down his double chin, covering his entire body like he had just taken a swim.
Ten steps away. He was only ten steps away now.
"Yeaahh!!! Can't mess with tha kid Cheesy!! you got thiiiissss!!!" Sharp yelled, pumping one fist in the air as he stepped back slowly, still gently swinging the Cheese on the stick.
"Please..Cheese..one..bite..." he mouthed breathlessly; eyes redder than ever.
He was only two steps away from it now. Just two more steps.
I was worried. I could see the tiny pink pores under his coat of fur, palpitating, his ears flapped down. He couldn't hold his weight on his own now, he was leaning against the wall of the counter, dragging his feet forward.
"Come on Cheesy. Your almost there" I whispered under folded, sweaty fists. This was the moment of truth happening right here. He did this, there was hope. If there was hope, we could go outside!!
This meant freedom!! Our freedom. My freedom...
"Cheesy!.... Cheesy!.... Chseesey!!" Sharp started chaunting his name, the block of cheese only inches away from him. Cheesy was buckled forward, then he stopped completely.
He bent over again, one hand on the wall, the other on his knee, stem coming off of his back.
Oh no. He's not gonna make it.
All he needed was one more step. That's all he needed! Just one more.
"Cheesy!! Cheesy!! Cheesy!!" I began chaunting alongside Sharp, walking beside him. Both of us were chaunting now, holding on to each other's shoulders as we did.
"Come on you've got this!! Your almost there!! Don't give up now!!" Sharp yelled.
Just then Cheesy dropped to his knees.
"I..can..Cheese..it.." he barely got his words out, but with a determination I had never seen before Cheesy clung himself to the wall, reaching up until he got on his two, trembling feet.
"I can Cheese iittttttt!!!!!" Cheesy roared, his hands pushed in the air; with one last sprint he jogged forward, diving into the finish line and yanking the Cheese from Sharp's dangling string.
"Yeeesssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!" Sharp and I bawled out; him dropping the stick to the ground we both jumped up, hugging each other, laughing and roaring like two dimwits.
Cheesy curled into a ball, guzzling the Cheese into his mouth like he hadn't eaten since forever, completely withdrawn into his own world.
He did it.
He actually crossed the finish line.